Catch Me
by Kishiko-Chan
Summary: Two lives, unexpectedly connected. The story of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, from humble beginnings to the legends they are today. However, that doesn't always mean that true legends must die...it could just be another beginning. MinaKush ALIVE.
1. Friend

Hellllllloo ALL! This is Kishiko-Chan's latest story, and the first one since she had come out of her very, very long hiatus. This story is my main focus right now, so the updates for the others aren't exactly going to be coming anytime very soon, but soon enough. Please enjoy, and REVIEWS are loved! (and they will determine whether or not this story should continue!)

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki would still be alive.

Now, I am proud to present to you…

**Catch Me**

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**Chapter I- Friend**

"Minato!" a tall, blonde-haired man exclaimed as he reached his hand out to a seemingly calm young boy. The boy had blonde hair as bright as the sunshine, similar to the man's, and bright cerulean eyes that seemed to pierce deep into your soul. The boy turned toward his father and gave him an inquisitive look.

"Yes, tou-san?"

"Are you ready for school? We should go soon before you're late! Your mom would have never—"

"—wanted me to be late to the Academy. I know, you've told me a lot of times already, tou-san!"

The young boy gave his father a bright smile and took his hand. His father promptly swung him up and placed the small boy on his shoulders.

As they were walking through the village, the older blonde constantly received praise from the villagers, along with several pats on the back, and adoring gazes from young women who wanted to make the widowed man theirs.

"Tou-san…" the young boy started, before his father cut in.

"Hm?"

"When I grow up, I hope I'll be as strong and respected as you one day!"

The father stopped, lowered his son to the floor, and bent down to put himself on eye level with him, and said with a stern voice,

"Minato Namikaze, you are already top of your class, already earning the respect of many people!"

"But I want to make **you** proud! I'll become Hokage one day!"

The father stood back up, looked down at his son with a crinkle-eyed smile, and responded with, "You would make a great Hokage, Minato. Just keep working hard." He gave him a reassuring squeeze on his hand, and continued walking along toward the Academy.

As soon as they had arrived, the older man ruffled his son's hair, and gave him a little push.

"I need to see the Hokage for a mission now, so I'll see you as soon as possible!"

Minato sighed. _"He always walks me to school when he's about to leave me for missions. Sometimes, I wish I'd have him all to myself for a few days… But this is his duty, and it'll soon be my duty, to be a great shinobi!"_

He waved and smiled weakly at his father, who turned and leapt away, jumping quickly toward the Hokage tower for his mission.

* * *

"MIIIIIINAAAAATOOOO!" shouted a loud, obnoxious, young Inoichi Yamanaka.

"Good morning, Yamanaka-san!" replied the more polite blonde.

"Aren't you excited? We're going to take the examination to become Genin tomorrow! Today's one of our last days sitting behind these desks and listening to a teacher!"

"I suppose so! It seems very exciting to get out of a classroom and start to train to become stronger, to become a better shinobi!"

The young, black haired teacher stepped into the room and raised his voice, practically yelling,

"ALL RIGHT CLASS, SETTLE DOWN! Due to the fact that we are testing you all tomorrow, I'd like to take today to have each of you talk about your goals and aspirations for the future. Uzumaki-san, since you barely joined us earlier this week, would you like to speak first?"

A young girl with flaming red hair nodded slowly and stood up, taking a deep breath and surveying the classroom. The whole class was quiet, looking at her as if wondering what would come out of her lips.

Minato turned his head up in interest, this girl had been…different. Since she had arrived this week, she had already beaten up half the guys that were in their class, mainly because they kept calling her "tomato," due to her round face and red hair. He, of course, was too smart, and too much of a gentleman to ever say anything that derogatory to her. She was strong, and he respected her for it and treated her with kindness. Still, her brashness and violent nature made her unapproachable to him, as he would rather stay with his group of friends rather than risk being beaten up by an enraged redhead. And frankly, Minato Namikaze had no idea how to talk to girls, other than being his polite self.

His reflections were cut short by a phrase that was shouted by the young redhead:

"I WANT TO BECOME THE FIRST FEMALE HOKAGE!"

His eyes widened at the exclamation, but then closed them as he tried to block out the hushed whispers, insults, and snide comments that were already surrounding him caused by this girl's statement.

"Who does she _think_ she is?"

"That little tomato head, she'll never be strong enough!"

Finally, someone with guts shouted at her, "QUIT DREAMING!"

His eyes opened up once again and his gaze fell upon the ridiculed young Kushina Uzumaki, and a pang of sympathy hit him as he saw her tear up while proceeding to scream,

"I'M GOING TO SUCCEED! JUST YOU WATCH!"

He smiled at her determination, and looked down once more. Other students were called, but none of them really caused as big of a commotion as Kushina did.

"Minato Namikaze."

He rose and looked at the class, stating,

"I want to become a Hokage that everyone in the village will respect."

Kushina's eyes narrowed at the blonde.

However, unlike the reaction the class gave her, there were nods of approval, and murmurs of the definite possibility. Dozens of girls swooned behind her, and she simply rolled her eyes.

"_That WIMP thinks he can become Hokage? I don't think so! How come he can get people to believe him? Why isn't he ridiculed?"_

Her eyes teared up once more as she thought the last comment, but she shook it off as she loosened up and continued to listen to her other classmates' goals.

The bell rang for dismissal and the students filed outside to eat their lunch. As soon as the bell rung, the young redhead sped outside with her bento box and sat on the swings on the lonely outside of the playground, hot tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared at the ground.

A big, boisterous boy and two others approached her and shouted,

"Oi, Uzumaki! You think you're hot stuff, huh? You're worth NOTHING! You don't belong here, you stupid, ugly, TOMATO!"

Her tears spilled out faster, but she clenched her fists.

"WHY DO YOU CALL ME TOMATO? HAVEN'T YOU LEARNED FROM THOSE OTHER BOYS I BEAT UP?"

"Ha, those boys were weaklings. Besides, they re-named you the _Red Hot-Blooded Habanero_, and I don't think you're feisty enough to live up to that nickname."

Her bento was snatched away from her, while the young boys were laughing at her.

She looked up darkly as she pulled her clenched fist back, and punched the leader of the group right across the face. He fell down, but then was helped back up by one of his cronies. The other one held her back before she could inflict further damage. The leader grabbed his cheek with one hand, and took the bento box from the other boy. He proceeded to give her a scathing look, and flung the box in front of her, the contents spilling out messily on the dirt floor. His cronies proceeded to shove her down, turned around and walked away, purposely kicking up dirt as they left.

She brought her knees up to her face and cried silently. Little did she know that there was a young blonde who had witnessed the smashing of her bento box while passing by. He walked up to her quietly, and extracted a light blue handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the crying girl.

"Uzumaki-san, I don't know about you, but Konoha's first female Hokage shouldn't be sitting on the floor crying."

He stretched out his hand and looked down at her with a small smile.

Her violet orbs widened as they met his cerulean ones, with her taking his hand to pull himself up. She let go and walked to the swings. He sauntered over and sat down at the swing next to her, pulling out his own bento and opening the lid. Inside, some crudely made riceballs were displayed, and he offered it to her. She lifted a shaky hand and picked one up, munching on it.

"Sorry if they're not very good, my father was busy last night, so I had to make it myself."

"They're fine! I'm starving!" exclaimed the redhead, her mood changing drastically.

He gave her a weak smile as she gave him a cheeky grin, and finished her riceball. She hopped off the swing and said,

"Thank you, Minato!"

"You're welcome, Uzumaki-san! It's the least I could do."

"Call me Kushina!"

"…okay…Kushina-san…"

"Why are you so formal! You know, when you said your goal today, I really thought that you were just a wimp, and that it could never happen. In fact, I still think that!"

His face faltered slightly, as he looked at her.

"…BUT, I think you could _possibly _prove me wrong."

His face brightened up immediately, and he nodded.

"But you're competing with me, dattebane! SO… you better prove me wrong FAST!"

She gave him that same cheeky grin, and moved ahead, with a definite spring in her step. She skipped, ran, twirl, and cart-wheeled with such grace and fluidity that it surprised him because he always thought he was a brash girl.

She stopped, then turned facing him and frowned.

"Aren't you coming?"

His eyes widened.

"Where are we going?"

"Well, I can't leave my first friend here by himself! I'll show you around my neighborhood!"

He nodded and ran up next to her, following along as she chatted loudly about her former home, Uzushiogakure, and all the things that she used to do there. It seemed like such a long story, with her talking, and stopping every few minutes because she would ramble on and forget what she was talking about. And after what seemed to be like an hour (but in reality only twenty minutes), Minato's head jerked as the two of them stopped.

"I'M HOME!"

He stared at the desolate building ahead of him.

Everything about it seemed dark and gloomy. The old walls of the building certainly have not been kept well, with the paint peeling off in some places and huge cracks in others. The windows were old and shabby, with some of them broken—acts of vandalism, most likely—and some of them completely replaced with wooden boards. The door was basically a piece of wood with a handle placed in it, with the edges of the door so crudely cut that it barely fit into the hole where a door was supposed to be. Minato was not rich, but he had enough to suffice, and this was nothing like the comfortable, modern house that he had lived in all his life.

Kushina must have caught him staring, because she turned to him and started explaining in a dark tone.

"As you can see, it's not one of those nice, quaint houses that the other villagers and shinobi live in, and that's because right when my family was about to move to Konoha, our village was destroyed…completely. We lost most of our prized possessions and money. Everything and everyone that we have left…is in this building."

Minato looked warily at the building; it was very tall, having several stories, but the condition it was in made him wonder how much people it could actually support.

"But even though we live in this shabby house, it's enough for me!" Kushina smiled, giving him a thumbs-up and then proceeding to open the door.

After seeing the outside of her house, Minato had expected the inside to be just the same. However, he was dreadfully wrong. The interior of the house was lively and vibrant, just like the redhead that had brought him there. The walls were painted bright yellow, with a huge cerulean blue Konoha sign painted nicely on the right wall, while a red Uzu village sign was painted on the opposite wall. No one seemed to notice him as there was hustle and bustle all about, as many other people he had never seen before moved around, making adjustments to the interior of the house. Paint was being transported up the stairs, wooden furniture was being made, and sometimes it was hard to tell who was real and who was a kage-bushin made to help out.

"You see, we've only been here a month! The old man Hokage offered us a nicer house, but us Whirlpool shinobi can handle anything! So we decided to liven up this old house and create it to be better! Although the outside's hard to fix, we'll work on it right after we're done with the inside!"

The young blonde let out a sigh of relief—Kushina would not have to live in such a bad house after all. The warmth and love that practically exuded from the walls was enough to keep anyone happy.

"Well, it's time for me to go help out now! You should go! I don't want you here to see me do all this dirty work!" she said with a wink, rolling up her sleeves.

Minato laughed slightly and said, "No, no! I want to help! Just tell me what to do!"

She led him upstairs carrying two cans of paint. He insisted that he held them, but she wouldn't hear of it. They reached the third floor, third room on the right. He opened the door for her and then followed her inside.

"Ahh, this is my room!"

It was _empty_, nothing there at all except for a pile of wood at one corner ("To make our own furniture!" she exclaimed), and a futon on the other.

"YOSH, LET'S GET STARTED!"

She painted the walls as he cut, sawed, sandpaper-ed, and painted what was to be her desk and drawers. Every so often, they would stop from their work and just sit down to rest for a few minutes, then get back to what they were doing. After a few hours, Kushina's room was complete.

The color of the room was bright yellow—sort of like Minato's hair—and the color of all her furniture was red, much like her hair. Though it was still quite bare, with nothing personal being put on her walls or on her drawers, she loved it all the same.

"Thank you so much for the help today, Minato!" She grinned at him, and gave him a quick hug to thank him.

"Not a problem at all! Afterall, anything for a friend, right?"

"Of course!" Her smile widened at the sound of the word, "friend."

"Alright, it's getting dark! I need to get home!"

He gave her a quick wave and a small smile, and jumped out her window as he sprinted back to his home. She returned the wave and smiled at his back as he lept away.

_Minato Namikaze…my friend…_

…**still **_a wimp._

She smiled as she prepared to go sleep.

* * *

Hey everyone! So what do you think of my story so far? After reading the most recent Naruto chapters, I completely fell in love with Naruto's parents! They're so selfless and adorable, their personalities complement each other's, AND, they're so funny to write about! My favorite couple, for sure. I just received my password in the e-mail, after MONTHS of requesting it, so I'm glad that I'm able to upload this for you all! School's about to start for me, so I don't know how fast I'm going to update, but then I'll try to write as many chapters as I can over this summer, and then update it…bi-weekly? I'm going to post this up, and if the reviews are good, then I'll continue the story. If not…then I'll probably just stop writing it.

The next chapter will be posted up as soon as I get some positive feedback about this story! :D

-Kishiko-chan


	2. I WILL becoming a Genin!

Ohayo minna-san! ^_^ Thank you for all your kind words and reviews, and here I am, uploading the 2nd chapter! :D

I would really like more REVIEWS just to know how people are liking the story so far, what they think will happen, or should happen, etc.

Thanks for everything!

I don't know if I need a disclaimer every chapter, so here I go! **I do not own Naruto.**

ENJOY!

**Chapter II- I WILL Become a Genin!**

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"Kushina…wake up."

She grumbled as she opened her eyes for a little, only to be met by the bright sunlight reflecting off her walls.

"_Maybe painting my room yellow wasn't such a great idea afterall…"_

"Five more minutes…" she muttered, flipping to put her face on the cool pillow.

"KUSHINA! YOUR EXAMINATION TO LEAVE THE ACADEMY IS TODAY. GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED!"

With this reminder ringing through her ears, she flung off her blanket and jumped up, adrenaline coursing through her veins as the idea of finally receiving that forehead protector gave her the inspiration to blaze to the restroom and quickly get ready.

She slipped on her standard outfit—a white kimono-like top with a red obi, and a pair of black shorts.

Quickly brushing her red hair and checking herself in the mirror, she flew down the stairs, across the kitchen, grabbing a piece of toast, flung open the door, and launched herself out, running straight toward the academy.

"KUSHINA, BE CAREFUL! DON'T RUN INTO ANYONE!" her mother called after her, smiling a bit as she watched her daughter.

"Do you think she'll pass?" she asked as she turned toward her husband with a small smile on her face.

"Definitely. She's our daughter, afterall." He replied, putting his arm around his wife and giving her a hug as he turned toward the back of his daughter, smiling.

* * *

_Riiiing._

_Riiiiiiiing._

Minato groggily opened his eyes, shifting his cerulean orbs away from the light that was shining from his window. He turned his head toward the source of the noise, and turned off the alarm clock.

7:15 AM.

His eyes widened as he jumped out of bed and hurried to get ready.

"_I'm late!_"

He thought about this for a moment—he's NEVER woken up late before, what made today any different?

"_That's right, tou-san went on his mission_."

He frowned a bit at this thought. His father had went on missions before, and he had woken up the same time he always had—early. Then it hit him; he was quite tired from helping Kushina out with her room yesterday, so tired, that he pretty much knocked out after showering.

He quickly put on his t shirt and jacket and his pants while brushing his teeth and washing his face. His hair was always going to be perpetually spiky and messy, so he didn't bother dealing with it.

"_Besides, maybe it'll be better if I get my forehead protector today!"_

He smiled at this happy thought, before making himself some breakfast and sprinting toward the academy. He raced through the entrance, and through the halls before turning at the door of his classroom.

Without himself noticing, he had bumped into a flash of red. He backed off quickly and bowed, repeatedly apologizing before the redhead had turned around, looking down at him with a smile.

"Minato? It's no big deal! You were probably in as much of a rush as I was!" She giggled as she watched him, flustered and obviously in a rush.

"K-Kushina-san? Gomen!" He uttered back, before slowly calming down and giving her a smile.

"Let's go in now, shall we? I'd like to introduce you to some of my friends!" He gave her a little push and they walked through the door, extracting a gasp from the young girls in the room. The bullies that had picked on Kushina yesterday made snide comments as she passed them

"So she got Namikaze to protect her, that little weakling."

"I bet she begged him."

"And she wanted to be Hokage."

A vein throbbed in her head as she heard these comments, but then Minato had steered her straight toward a group of people on the far right of the room.

"Ohayo, minna-san! I'd like you to meet Kushina-san!"

Kushina looked meekly around the group, a bit scared, until she found that she had received warm smiles from most of them, except for the stoic boys, of course.

"Ohayo, I'm Kushina Uzumaki! It's nice to meet you all!" She flashed them a brilliant smile and eyes widened as a young girl with brown hair and paintings down her cheeks walked up to her and offered her hand out to shake.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Tsume Inuzuka!"

Kushina's smile widened as the rest of the group followed behind Tsume to shake her hand.

"Inoichi Yamanaka!"

"Shikaku Nara."

"Chouza Akimichi!"

"We're the INO-SHIKA-CHO combination…GENERATION 2!" The three of them exclaimed in unison, giving her a bright smile.

She laughed as she shook their hands, surprised that the seemingly quiet Shikaku would join in on his two friends' strange antics.

She then turned to face two identical looking boys, both with long hair and bright white orbs, wearing the exact same white robes.

"_How am I going to tell these two apart? They're TWINS."_

"NICE TO MEET YOU! I'M HIZASHI HYUGGA!" One exclaimed, excitedly taking her hand and shaking it with great fervor.

His twin eyed her, looking for any signs of a threat, and after nodding in approval, stuck out his hand and said in a much quieter and more polite tone, "Nice to meet you, I am Hiashi Hyuuga."

Kushina noticed the definite difference in personality, and realized that maybe, telling them apart wouldn't be so difficult after all.

Next was a girl with onyx eyes and straight raven hair, standing next to a boy sharing the same features, even though face-structure wise, they had nothing alike. She had a warm smile, unlike the boy next to her and came to shake her hand.

"Good morning, Kushina-san, I am Mikoto Uchiha."

The boy came next, and stuck out his hand and uttered,

"Fugaku Uchiha."

"_This guy…needs to learn to lighten up."_

"You two are siblings?" Kushina inquired, looking at the two of them but not seeing much of a resemblance other than eye and hair color.

Mikoto gave a small chuckle and replied with, "OH, no, no, no, we're just very very very very VERY distantly related. Our clan prefers to marry within the clan, to make sure our bloodline is still pure, but we're so big that most of us don't share the same genetic make up other than our Uchiha hair and eyes."

"Ohh, so you guys are…friends?"

"Yep! Fugaku here is my best friend! Even though he's a little quiet, he's not that bad."

Inoichi snickered and added a snide comment, "Because you're the only person he's actually TALKATIVE around. Good thing you two aren't that related, or else how would you get married?"

Although he intended for it to be quiet, everyone in the group heard it, and noticed when Mikoto flushed red and Fugaku smacked the loudmouth blonde upside the head and sighed in annoyance.

"_I think blondie has a point. We'll see in time though_."

Right after that little episode, much to the Uchihas' pleasure, the instructor busted in through and door and proceeded to exclaim with much pleasure in his voice,

"ALRIGHT, TIME FOR YOUR EXAMS! FINALLLLYYYYY!"

He cheered up and down, causing the students to sweatdrop. They weren't sure who was more excited for them to leave, themselves or their instructor.

Minato went first, producing a perfect henge, not to the surprise of anyone in the room, and walked over to the table to receive his forehead protector. The class exploded in applause and another girl walked up and repeated the process.

As more and more people went up, Kushina was sitting frozen in her seat, trying to calm herself down.

"_I have to do this. I've worked too hard to give up. __**Too hard.**__"_

Kushina thought back to her first days in Uzu, when she had to practically beg her parents to let her begin the ninja academy in the village.

"_Touuuuuuu-san, KAAAAAAA-SAN_!" _called out a cheery little red head._

"_Yes, Kushina?" her mother responded, cocking an eyebrow at her daughter. She NEVER used formalities. This must be something important. Her husband agreed as he turned to look at his little daughter as well._

"_Well, you see, it's about the time that I joined the academy, especially since everyone else is already talking about attending!"_

"_Kushina…we've already talked about this. You should stay home and become a housewife, a duty of a shinobi is too hard for you to handle, you'd have to deal with death and killing all of the time." Her father chided softly, slightly ruffling his daughter's hair._

"_DAD! I'm old enough to know what I want, and I WANT to do this!" she exclaimed, clenching her fists before continuing on, "Our village is important for our sealing jutsus, and if the youth of the village don't continue it, how will we survive? How will I protect you two when you need it? I know you're a shinobi, dad, but mom isn't! She won't be able to protect herself. I WANT THIS."_

_Her parents looked at each other and sighed. She had never talked with such fervor and passion in her voice before, and they knew that they couldn't refuse her, because she would probably find her own way to get what she wanted._

"_Fine. One week. If you can't make it through one week in the academy, then you will come back to us."_

_Kushina grinned and unclenched her fists, leaping to give her parents a huge hug, and then jumped off to bed, excited._

"_You know, I think she'd make a great shinobi." Her mother smiled as she said this, watching her daughter. Her father nodded slightly, and then turned to go to sleep._

Months passed, and Kushina had done well in the academy, with the exception of some ninjutsu, one of which was the Henge jutsu. She could do most other jutsus with some ease, but when it came to that one and the replacement jutsu, she just had a very difficult time figuring it out. She was just about to ask her teacher for help when the village was attacked. Her and her mother fled as soon as they could, along with the other villagers, to Konoha, Uzu's strongest ally. Her father had fought off as much as he could, but after getting knocked out, he was brought to Uzu on the back of some Konoha-nin that had came to assist them.

When they had arrived at Konoha, it took the same amount of persuading to get her parents to allow her to enroll in the academy again, especially after witnessing so many of their shinobi die, despite their nature of long-lives.

Through it all, Kushina had tried exceptionally hard to be on par with the other students, a level which she had achieved, even though those jutsus still caused her some difficulty, probably because of her insane amount of chakra. Of course, she hadn't just come to the village because of Uzu's destruction. Even before that, she was going to move here…to have that _thing_ put into her. It had happened the day after she had arrived. She was scared out of her mind, but some consolation that her predecessor gave her helped to calm her down, to help her smile even in the midst of all her pressure.

The week before the exam approached. She spent almost every single minute outside of the classroom exhausting her chakra reserves until she could finally create a clone without a lot of difficulty, though she would rather stick to something else. The only day that she had _not_ worked on it was…the day before. When she made her first friend. When she met Minato Namikaze.

Kushina smiled at the thought, and grinned even more so at the happiness that came when she thought of the friends she had just made earlier in the morning. Tsume, Inoichi, Shikaku, Chouza, Hizashi, Hiashi, Mikoto, and Fugaku. As the butterflies in her stomach slowly melted away, she heard her name called.

"Uzumaki-san, please approach the front of the classroom."

As she took the strides to the front of the room, she heard the sneers of some of the students in the classroom, whispering rude and discouraging comments to her, and she herself felt her feet drag as she dreaded more more the moment that was about to come. Just when she was about to give up hope in her ability—before even reaching the front of the classroom, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Minato give her a bright smile, and the rest of her friends giving her smiles and nods of encouragement—and in Hizashi's case, a big thumbs-up and a bright smile.

She took a deep breath and exhaled, walking up to her sensei and saw him nod in return and in approval.

She put her hands up into the familiar hand sign.

POOF.

An identical clone of Kushina appeared right next to her, fully functioning, not queasy or on the floor like the ones she used to do. She sighed a huge breath of relief as she looked up and saw the smile on her instructor's face, with his hands gesturing toward the table. She took the last forehead protector proudly, and smiled as her friends (even the stoic Uchiha and Hyuga) began clapping. However, what she had not expected was for the rest of the class to join along, some of the people who previously glared at her with dislike now gave her smiles and nods of approval, while some others remained ignorant, but she wouldn't let them bother her. She had friends, and she was now a full fledged ninja.

NOTHING was going to stand in her way.

"Alright, class, congratulations to all of you who had advanced. To those who didn't, you may make up the examination in a week, where there will be make-ups. The ones who did, you will be meeting your instructor 3 hours from now. The lists will be put on the wall along with the room number at which you will meet. But for now, you are DISMISSED!"

The bell rang and the instructor grinned, gave a cheer, and poofed away.

The group of friends looked at each other as they took in the realization that from this moment on, they were no longer academy students. They are NINJAS. They each smiled—even if it was just a small smile—at each other as they held their forehead protector in front of them and tied it on, wearing them with pride.

"Sooo…" Inoichi started, breaking the special silence that had crossed them.

"What now?" the livelier Hyuuga brother finished, looking expectantly at the rest of his group.

"RAMEN!" Chouza exclaimed, much to the surprise of her peers. Kushina smiled and cheered along with her, and then followed Hizashi, as the three started their way to the door, cheering loudly as they went along. Minato smiled in the background, eyes widening as Kushina grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the exit. She let go and with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, shouted, "RACE YOU ALL TO ICHIRAKU'S!"

The rest of the group looked at each other. They had barely known this girl for less than a day, and yet, she was already starting to find her way into their hearts. Giving nods of approval, they smirked at each other, giving each other challenging looks.

_3…_

_2…_

_1…_

_0._

The friends took off, pushing themselves to the most of their ability as they ran, happy with the competition and glad that they are able to connect with each other in the way that they are.

* * *

Reviews make me happy! :D

They also help to improve the story, so I can make little edits here and there.

As soon as I get good feedback on this chapter, I will continue!

Kishiko-Chan!


	3. Sensei

**Chapter III- Sensei**

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"HURRY UP, CHOUZA!" An excited and slightly impatient Inoichi exclaimed, pushing his friend ahead of him toward the academy.

"I WANT TO KNOW WHAT OUR TEAMS ARE!" he continued, giving a final push through the academy doors and into the academy.

The whole group rushed through the door and made their way past the other students who were looking for their team.

Inoichi scanned the wall intensely, then jumped up and gave a big, "YATTA! INO-SHIKA-CHO ONCE AGAIN!" The other two knew what this meant, and joined in along with his cheering, with Shikaku regaining his calm and lazy disposure after a few minutes, while the other two continued on.

Kushina looked at the wall, scanning for her name.

"_I want to be in the same team as Minato…" _she thought to herself before finding her name. Her face lit up at the sight of the paper, and fell again when she saw that she had _not_ been put on the same team as her blonde friend. However, her disappointment was relieved when she saw that she had been put on the same team with her other hyperactive friend, Hizashi Hyuuga. They also had an ice cube, Fugaku Uchiha. With her team in mind, she marched toward them, giving them a big smile. Hizashi returned it, and the Uchiha just gave a "Hn."

Minato on the other hand, was looking for his name on the wall. He, too, wanted to be on the same team as his "friend," but then again, after seeing her walk up to the other two boys, he knew he hadn't been put on the same team. _"Oh well, I'm sure that we'll see each other a lot anyway!"_ He scanned the paper and finally found his name, along with Shibi Aburame's and Toshio Haruno. He surveyed the room, looking for his team mates, until he found them.

Shibi Aburame was a tall, mysterious boy with a huge overcoat covering the lower half of his face and sunglasses covering his eyes. His forehead protector now kept his wild brown hair up, and he gave off a very strange aura, as if one got on his bad side, they would definitely regret it. Toshio Haruno on the other hand, was quite different from his quieter team mate. He had warm green eyes and spiky brown hair that seemed more tame than that of Minato's. He had a warm smile on his face, and motioned for the blonde to come over. Sensing a bit of relief that he was at least a bit welcome, he walked over to his team and started making brief chatter with them.

From the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of red, and turned only to see none other than Kushina Uzumaki. She turned around sensing someone look at her, and turned around to give him a big smile. He nodded and smiled in return, understanding the message being sent:

"_It's okay, we're still friends, so I'll see you around!"_

They both returned to chatter with their team mates before they set off to their respective classrooms.

* * *

Kushina entered the class room 7B with her team mates.

"I wonder who our sensei is…" she thought aloud, looking inquisitively at her team mates.

"ME TOO! Let's hope he's someone super strong and awesome!" The ever-lively Hizashi Hyuuga exclaimed, looking at the quiet Uchiha to add into something.

"I just hope he's strong." added the onyx-haired boy, subsequently crossing his arms and leaned on a table.

Hizashi and Kushina smirked as they found a new way to annoy the boy. They suddenly repeated what he said and counted the words on their fingers, before screaming in front of his face, "WOW, THAT WAS A WHOLE **FIVE **WORDS!"

"Hizashi! It's a miracle!"

"KUSHINA! HURRY AND RECORD THIS, IT'S A NEW RECORD FOR A UCHIHA WITH A STICK UP HIS-"

Before he could finish, the Uchiha slapped him upside the head with irritation evident on his face, and his face, throwing a glare for good measure at Kushina.

Kushina opened her mouth to retaliate before a 'POOF!' resonated throughout their classroom, and a tall man with silver hair appeared in front of them.

The redhead, who was new to this town, didn't really know who he was or what kind of reputation he held in the village, but from the looks of it, he was pretty well respected. Hizashi and Fugaku immediated bowed down and she followed suit, not wanting to look rude.

"Hatake-senpai." They murmured, and they brought themselves back up.

"Ah, so you guys are my new students!" he said with a small smile on his face.

"Who do we have here?" he inquired, pointing at the only female of the team first.

"Good morning, sensei, I am Kushina Uzumaki. I just moved into this village not very long ago!" He nodded and then turned to the Hyuuga, who was standing on her right.

"Good morning Hatake-sensei, I am Hizashi Hyuuga!" he said with his normal exuberance and then turned to Fugaku, who was on Kushina's left, with the same expectant look as the older man and Redhead gave him.

"Good Morning, I am Fugaku Uchiha." He said quietly, ignoring the silent cheering of his team mates as they whispered, "THAT MAKES THE RECORD UP TO **SIX **WORDS!"

The older man scanned all of them and nodded, then proceeded to introduce himself.

"Good morning everyone, I am Sakumo Hatake, and I will be your sensei for these next few years. Just so you know, I am strict on rules…" he started, earning a small groan from the two over-enthusiastic kids in his team, before continuing with, "but I'd like to let you know that sometimes, there are situations where rules can be broken. Like my own sensei told me, those who break the rules are trash, but those who turn their backs on their team mates are lower than that. You three will have to get along with each other. This is a three-person TEAM, no one is to work alone, understood?"

He looked at the three children in front of him, all who nodded at their sensei.

"Great! Now let's get to know each other a bit more! Tell me about your likes, your dislikes, and your aspirations!" He said suddenly in a cheery mood, surprising all of them. He smiled at them and pointed at Hizashi to begin first.

The white-eyed boy looked up at the ceiling, put his index finger and thumb in the "thinking" position, and sat on the table behind him before continuing.

"Hmm…I like…training with my father, and making him proud. I also like Hiashi being my brother when he isn't the ice cube that he lets everyone think he is…I also like dango!"

The others at first nodded in approval and surprise at his sincerity, and then sweatdropped when they heard the rest of the sentence. Not noticing a thing, the young long hair boy continued on with a frown on his face as he talked about his dislikes.

"I dislike spicy things, since most of my family has low toleration for it, and my goal is to try to end the cursed seal tradition in my family, even though I'm not branded with it…yet."

The dark tone that the boy ended his short speech with surprised his team mates, and resulted in a nod of understanding from his sensei.

"Next…Kushina, please continue."

She nodded before continuing.

"I like salt ramen, making new friends, and training. I dislike coffee or anything bitter! I also dislike people who make fun of my red hair." She added that last remark menacingly and clenched her first, before smiling and continuing with, "My goal is to become the FIRST FEMALE HOKAGE!"

The silver haired man cocked an eyebrow at her exclamation but nodded in approval nonetheless.

"_This girl has got spirit."_

At last, he turned toward the stoic boy on the far left. The boy shifted his weight to his other leg and leaned back, looking at his sensei.

"I like training. I dislike people who are disloyal to their family and friends. My goal is to become the head of my clan one day."

"Ne, ne, Fugaku, what's your favorite food?" Hizashi asked, wanting him to open up more to the rest of them.

Fugaku, who was just about to slap him if he and Kushina started up with the loud word count of his sentence, looked surprised and uttered out, "Tomatoes."

Sakumo smiled a little bit, glad that his team was already beginning to get to know each other a bit more and stop fighting.

"Alright! Tomorrow, you guys will be given a test to see if you are capable of becoming true shinobi. If you three do not pass it, then you will fail and return to the Academy, understood?"

The three looked incredulous, all thinking the same thing.

"_I worked this hard to get to this point just to have it POSSIBLY taken away! I don't think so!"_

The teacher chuckled at their expressions and continued on with his short lecture.

"Don't eat breakfast—you might puke it back up. Come prepared to fight, you guys aren't reading books anymore, you three will actually be training now. I want you to become strong shinobi. You're my team, afterall."

He smiled at them and nodded, then in the same way he came, he left.

The three of them looked at each other, and Kushina was the first to speak.

"So guys…what now?"

The two males looked at each other and shrugged.

"Let's walk home then!" Hizashi said cheerfully, with the other two agreeing silently and walking out the academy doors with him.

"Say Fugaku, you like tomatoes huh…" started Kushina, and the three new team mates started chattering along, starting to bond like a real team, and finally getting the cold and apathetic Uchiha to open up, just a little bit.

* * *

Minato stepped into room 12B with his two brunette companions.

"So, you guys finally got here!" A spiky, white haired man said from his spot on the desk, where he sat cross-legged looking at his new pupils.

The blonde's eyes widened as he opened his mouth to speak.

"J-Jiraiya-san?" He exclaimed loudly, before bowing respectfully.

"Ahh Minato, polite as always." Responded the older man, surveying the three boys he is now taking under his wing.

"You know our sensei, Minato?" asked the Haruno, giving the blonde boy an incredulous look.

"Yep! He's a friend of my dad's, he comes to visit every so often and trains me when he has the time."

"YOU GET TRAINED BY A SANNIN?" exclaimed his team mate—the one who actually talks.

"I said sometimes!"

Minato defended himself quickly from the ambush of questions that were sure to follow from the brunette by quickly turning to his teacher with a pleading look on his face, urging him to get on with the introductions.

"Hey! I am your sensei, Jiraiya OF THE LEGENDARY SANNIN!" He jumped up and landed on the floor striking a pose in front of his students. He frowned as he surveyed his team a bit more.

"Hey, this sucks. They gave me an all-male team."

The three young boys sweat-dropped, knowing the lecherous intentions behind his frown, already imagining what kind of "training" they would be going through. Despite this 'setback', the Sannin continued.

"Alright, so let's start with the normal stuff. Tell me your name, likes, dislikes, and goal for the future. Uhhh…you, the quiet one, start first."

Whether he knew it or not, Jiraiya received a glare from 'the quiet one' behind his dark sunglasses before he began talking.

"I am Shibi Aburame. I like tending to my bugs. I dislike people who kill my bugs—even if it's accidental. My goal is…"

The other three males in the vicinity leaned toward him with anticipation, wondering what kind of goal (probably bug-related) a guy like this would have.

"…not to be revealed."

Three palms met three respective faces.

"Alright, next, Minato."

"I am Minato Namikaze. I like to train and read. My favorite food is curry. I dislike people who pick on others, and my goal is to become a strong and respected Hokage!" He said with a smile.

"Okay, you're last!"

"My name is Toshio Haruno! My favorite food is anko dumplings! I like to read and do puzzles, I dislike people who make fun of others…and anything sour. My goal is to become the head of my clan!"

The white-haired man nodded in approval of his students, happy with what he was hearing, although Shibi needed a little more social skills.

"Okay, I am your sensei, Jiraiya, as I have said earlier. From this day forward, you guys won't be getting it easy, so you better suck it up right now! I'll raise you all to be fine men, as a shinobi, and with the _ladies_." He finished smoothly with a wink, making the hair on the back of his students' necks to stand up.

"Minato doesn't need any help with **that**."

Minato flushed red and started stammering, denying everything that Toshio just said. But the damage was done. Jiraiya verbally pounced on the boy like a tiger who just found fresh meat.

"Oh really now? Have you had a girlfriend yet? Is she pretty? Should I tell your dad about this? How far have you gone? USE PROTECTION!"

The boy couldn't get any redder, before stammering out once again.

"J-Jiraiya-s-s-san! N-no, I haven't had a girlfriend yet! I'M ONLY TEN!" he exclaimed, disgusted at what the sage was thinking.

"Good, good. Your father wouldn't be too happy about that. You're much too young. We'll wait a year."

The boy's eyes widened with fear, before shaking it off and smiling timidly at him.

"S-so…when are we going to start training?" he said, hoping that the question will change the topic, which it did.

"Ah, right. So starting tomorrow, you three will begin your shinobi training! First, I need to put you through a test to make sure you are capable of continuing as shinobi. If you fail, you will be sent back to the Academy."

The three boys blanched at the prospect of having the spend another year at the ninja school while all their fellow classmates were already being ninja.

"Don't eat breakfast—you'll puke it up. Just be ready with all your weapons. Dress like you're NINJA. You three are no longer students."

"Hai, sensei!" the three of them responded, although the Aburame's was a little less enthusiastic than that of his comrades.

"Now, you three go home and get to know each other more. I have some…research I have to do." The man gave a lecherous smile and 'poof'-ed away, leaving the three young boys in fear of what he's actually doing. Pushing it out of their mind, they started making their way through the hallways of their school, and onward home.

* * *

Hey guys! I'm glad that the story has been doing well, but I feel as if it could do better. I like to keep one chapter ahead of the one I'm posting (such as, when I finish this chapter, I'll put up chapter 2, etc.). So that's how it's going to be over the summer. During the school year, however, it will vary from weekly to bi-monthly, so I'm trying to finish as much as possible over the summer! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one will be more entertaining, and will be coming SOON. Please send in reviews with any suggestions on how I could improve the story, or just words of encouragement! Reviews give me inspiration to finish the chapter, and that means faster updates! YAY!

Tomorrow's my birthday, so I decided to update, YAY!

-Kishiko-chan!


	4. Bells

**Chapter IV- Bells**

* * *

It was a bright, beautiful day in Konoha. The birds were chirping, the sky was a clear blue and the calm serenity of the Leaf Village was truly an event to be revered. The streets were filled with vendors selling their goods, and many citizens, ninja and non-ninja, walking around buying supplies, chatting with friends, or just enjoying a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's.

"Oi! You! Slow down!" called out a stern brown-haired man at a blur of red that came streaking through the village streets and toward the training ground areas. She didn't even bother stopping, or heeding the man's words, as she continued to run, moving past traffic as gracefully as she could, surprisingly not running into everything that was in her path.

"_Yes! I made it!" _

She kept at her speed, but was ready to hop the fence that stood in between her and her destination, Training Ground #12. She closed her eyes for a bit as she pushed off, until she found herself making contact with something hard.

"Mmphm!" She uttered out as she fell back on her behind, rubbing her head as she looked up to see what she had run into. A mass of yellow hair greeted her as her eyes widened.

"Kushina-san!" exclaimed the blonde youth as he reached out his hand to help her get up. She took the assistance and stood up, dusting herself off and then proceeding to apologize profusely.

"Gomen, Minato! I'd stay and chat but I really have to go right now! My sensei's going to kill me for being late!"

She gave him a smile and a small salute, and then proceeded jumping over the fence and sprinting toward the training ground.

Minato stared at her back as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, shrugged and continued walking toward _his_ destination, Training Ground #13.

* * *

"Kushina! You were ALMOST late!" Hizashi shouted as she approached, punching his arm slightly as she passed by him. Fugaku stood nearby with his arms crossed, leaning on the wooden training block that protruded from the ground.

Kushina gave off a look of confusion and looked at the young Hyuuga.

"Almost? What do you mean?"

"Sensei isn't here yet!"

As if on cue, their silver haired teacher appeared, sitting on top of the training stump Fugaku was leaning on in a cross-legged position, giving them a smile. Fugaku's eyes opened at the appearance of their sensei, and he proceed to get up and walk to line up with his team mates, as the three of them looked at their superior expectantly.

Sensing their attention, Sakumo Hatake began to speak.

"Alright, so today, we're going to be taking a _little_ test to see where your abilities are at, and also to determine whether or not you're worthy of becoming a genin. Out of the people who graduated, only 9 will be continue on to become genin. The rest of them will be sent back to the academy."

The three of them gulped, but kept their cool as the silver haired man took out two bells from his pocket, and held them out in front of him.

"I have two bells. Your job is to try to get these from me. There are two bells, the one of you who does NOT get a bell is going to fail and be sent back to the Academy, understood!"

The children flinched at the possibility of being sent back to the Academy, and nodded in response.

"Now, BEGIN!"

He poofed away and left the three children there on their guard. The three of them jumped behind a bush as they figure out what to do.

"What are we going to do, guys? We all really REALLY want to become genin!" Kushina pleaded, looking at her team mates with a stressed expression.

"Yes, I realize that. That means we'll have to split up and compete against each other." Fugaku stated firmly, instilling a sense of dread into his team mates. Fugaku would surely get one, with his knowledge and ability, leaving only the two good friends to compete against each other. After a moment of silence, the white-eyed boy finally spoke.

"That's not RIGHT! HOW COULD THEY SPLIT US UP LIKE THIS? IT'S NOT FAIR. WE'RE A TEAM! EVEN SENSEI SAID-"

"HIZASHI! YOU'RE A GENIUS!" Kushina exclaimed, practically bouncing up and down in excitement as she motioned for the two males in her team to come closer to be able to tell them the secret.

* * *

Minato arrived at the training ground, looking around for any signs of his team mates. When the search came up fruitless, he decided to sit down and rest for a bit before the important "test."

Suddenly, a new chakra presence was arrived at the training ground. The blonde looked up to see the Aburame walking up and taking his spot a good distance away from him. Following him, a brown haired boy leisurely arrived, and once again, stayed a good distance away from the blonde as well, taking out a book to pass the time.

From a distance, a white haired man observed his team's notable lack of companionship, and sighed at the thought of having to somehow get these kids to grow close to each other.

"_I have a prodigious blonde, a bookworm brunette, and an antisocial Aburame kid. Great."_

He had finally decided that he had kept them waiting long enough, and poofed right onto the top of the middle training stump the three kids were near.

"Alright, team! Are you ready to hear about your test?"

He looked at his students before seeing the previously unenthusiastic eyes fill with fervor—well, from Minato and Toshio, anyway—as they nodded.

He pulled out two jingling silver bells from his weapons holster and held them up in front of the three boys before continuing the speech.

"The goal is… to get these bells from me."

As Toshio opened his mouth to speak, Jiraiya cut him off, as if anticipating what the boy was about to ask, which he was.

"Yes, I realize there are only two bells, and there are three of you. The thing is, you three will fight me to get these bells, and the ones who ends up with a bell will end up moving on and becoming Genin, while the one that doesn't will be sent back to the Academy for another year. Come at me with all you've got or you won't get the bell."

On that note, he poofed away, and the three boys jumped away from each other and into their own respective corners of the training grounds, concealing themselves while planning their strategy.

"_Ahh, so they split up so soon…this test will be a real reality slap for them then. The only one who would even have the chance of getting a bell alone would be Minato. That boy is just a genius, not that he'd admit it."_

As he finished the thought, the sole of Toshio's sandals showed up in front of his face. He easily grabbed the boy's foot and hung him up, tossing him to the side carelessly. The sage yawned and put his arms behind his head, calling out casually to his students.

"If you guys want to become real ninja, you're going to have to do better than that!"

* * *

"_Where are those kids?" _ a silver haired sensei thought, as he had been sitting out on his bench for a good twenty minutes waiting for those students of his to start attacking him.

At that moment, he heard a shuffling in the bushes, and smirked as he saw a young redhead charge him head on with fists clenched and prepared for a punch. He scoffed at her recklessness and prepared to grab her fist and throw her to the side, before he heard a

"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"

Konoha's White Fang turned to meet a giant fireball heading in his direction. His eyes widened slightly, but he jumped out of the way to avoid the fireball. He turned to look for the redhead he was about to block to see the fireball hit her.

His eyes widened once again as he ran toward his student, cursing under his breath as he did not intend for any one to get killed this early under his teaching.

Due to this distraction, he didn't notice a young Hyuuga approach him from behind and shout, "Jyuuken!" as he proceeded to close off some of his sensei's chakra holes before the man poofed away to reveal himself to be a log.

From a distance, a silver-haired man stood, panting slightly as he looked down on his three students.

"_They're…surprising me. I didn't know that Uzu girl could do a Kawarimii so fast."_

Kushina jumped out from one of the trees to meet her team mates, laughing as her "burning" body turned into a burning log.

Sensing that they were getting too comfortable, their sensei took out multiple kunai and shuriken and proceeded to have them rain down on his students while jumping from tree branch to tree branch.

"Byakugan!" sounded through the training ground as Hizashi reactivated his bloodline, getting into a stance.

"Hakke Shou Kaiten!"

A blue orb of chakra covered both him and his team mates as the weapons that were thrown got repelled, thrown off to the side uselessly by the young boy's technique.

Suddenly, Sakumo was attacked from behind by a onyx haired boy, engaging him in taijutsu before flinging the boy off in front of him.

A low growl escaped from the throat of the Uchiha before he lunged at his sensei, who sidestepped in return. The boy somersaulted to soften his fall before standing up facing his sensei, smirking.

The man looked bewildered as he stared at his student, wondering what was happening.

"TOO BAD, SENSEI!" shouted the redhead as she extracted a silver bell from her pocket and held it out in front of her teacher, as he had done earlier that morning. He turned to hear another jingle as well, this time coming from the smirking Uchiha, backed with a stuck out tongue from the Hyuuga.

The man had a look of surprise and nodded in approval.

In unison, three stomachs grumbled loudly and the team mates looked at each other, embarrassed. Their sensei chuckled as he smiled at them.

"Come on, you guys did great today! Ramen! My treat!"

The three of their faces lit up as they grinned and raced each other, and their sensei, to Ichiraku's.

Tradition is tradition, after all.

* * *

Minato narrowed his eyes at the perverted sage below him as he quickly thought up a plan. Though he hated to manipulate people, or use other's disadvantages to his benefit, he realized that he had to in this case. So, he kept a close look out on the perverted sage, and finally saw his opening.

As Toshio had decided—once again—to attack Jiraiya head-on, and Minato used this to his advantage. Relying on Toshio's taijutsu ability to keep Jiraiya busy, Minato silently jumped down and hid inside a bush to see Toshio sparring with Jiraiya.

"_His taijutsu must be pretty impressive_,_"_ mused Minato, _"if he could make Jiraiya-sensei use both of his hands and engage him in a spar."_

Minato quickly whipped out some kunai and joined in on the fight. He threw five, all aiming for different parts of Jiraiya's body. The white-haired sensei took out his own kunai and deflected four out of five of the kunai, and cocked an eyebrow at Minato as he felt one pass his leg, but miss it completely.

"Minato, you need more practice, your aim's getting off."

"I wasn't aiming to hurt you, Jiraiya-sensei." Called out the voice of a young blonde behind him.

Wide-eyed, Jiraiya turned around to see Minato with a small smirk on his face as he held out a bell.

"_When did he—OH MY GOSH."_

Jiraiya learned that day that Minato really did live up to his genius title.

He thought about what happened, and finally realized what Minato's plan was the whole time. It was simple, fast, and required almost no effort on his part except for good timing and precise aim.

As his time was being taken up by the impressive taijutsu of Toshio, Minato snuck up in front of him and threw the five kunai—four to divert his attention, and one to cut the bell free from his waist, where it was dangling. As soon as he had threw the kunai, he did a replacement jutsu to sneak up on the sage and get the bell as Jiraiya was still partially distracted by Toshio and in awe that someone like Minato could miss an easy shot like that.

Overall, a good plan, and impressive that such a young boy could actually get a bell single-handedly, even though his teammate's abilities were utilized without his knowledge.

As Jiraiya kept sparring with Toshio, he didn't notice the bugs that had crawled up on him and was now gnawing away the string that kept the bell dangling close to him.

In a few moments, it was free, and the bugs had formed a small bundle, surround the bell and carrying back to their master, Shibi Aburame.

A jingle sounded across the training ground as Toshio broke apart from the spar to catch his breath.

His eyes widened as he saw the tall, quiet boy hold out the last bell with a smirk.

Toshio's face fell as he realized what that meant, and looked at his sensei with a look of sadness.

Jiraiya sighed, looking at his students with a look a slight disappointment, even though their abilities _are_ impressive.

"So you two got the bells, but all three of you lack what is **truly** necessary to become genin and in general, successful ninjas. I'm sorry, but I can not pass you three together. Minato and Shibi, I'll see you two tomorrow, you'll be assigned to new teams."

On that note, and with a sad smile, Jiraiya poof-ed away, leaving the boys there in awe, as they sat, dumbstruck, at what was just revealed to them.

"I'm sorry Toshio, for using you as a distraction that way." Minato said quietly, looking at the boy who was fighting back his tears.

"I-It's okay, Minato. You really deserve it, you're a real genius." The green-eyed boy gave a warm, genuine smile, turning away as he allowed a single tear to fall on his cheek, not even bothering to brush it away.

"Toshio."

The boy jumped at the sound of low voice of the Aburame, and turned to look at him and Minato, who had their hands outstretched with the bell lying on their palm, offering them the token of their success.

"You deserve it, because without your help, we wouldn't have been able to distract Jiraiya enough to actually go through with our plans." Minato explained, smiling as he put the bell into Toshio's hand.

"Your taijutsu is impressive. It was technically teamwork, although we did not plan it."

Toshio's eyes widened once again, for receiving praise from the Aburame was as surprising as him calling out someone's name.

"T-thank you, guys. But Jiraiya-sensei isn't here, I still didn't pass."

As if the realization just struck them, their faces fell, but not for long before the white-haired pervy sage himself popped up in front of them with a huge grin on his face.

"I knew you could do it! You all pass!"

His grin widened when he saw the incredulous looks on their faces as he continued to explain.

"The point of this 'test' was to show you guys the importance of teamwork. Without good teamwork, a team will never be able to succeed. Value your team above yourself, above the mission, and you will become a great shinobi."

The three boys nodded and smiled as Jiraiya cheered and shouted something about his team not being a failure after all, before ushering the three of them to the nearest bar to 'celebrate their success.'

Shaking their heads at the childish antics of their sensei, the boys couldn't help but grin as they realized that they are well on their way to become great ninja.

* * *

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, a lot of crazy things have been happening lately with my personal life so I couldn't get around to finishing up this chapter. But now I am! Please enjoy and remember to review, review, review! It gives me inspiration to keep going!

I'll update the next one AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! School's starting in three days! D:

-Kishiko-Chan!


	5. Goodbye

**Chapter V- Goodbye

* * *

**

_Minato, get your stuff ready, we leave tomorrow morning at 8am. Jiraiya._

He stared at the paper that had been pinned onto his door as if he couldn't believe what it was saying.

He had just been a Genin for a few days, and now he was getting whisked off with the rest of his team mates on strange, unexpected expedition that would take kami-knows-how-long. Although he loves exploring and traveling and learning, and this experience would definitely let him experience all of those things, he couldn't help but feel like he would miss the village.

He'd miss the village sites—the memorial, the Hokage monument, the library he loved so much.

He'd miss all the memories he had made there.

He'd miss the people.

For reasons still unknown to him, the image of a redhead flashed across his mind, and he felt saddened at the fact that he would have to say goodbye to a friend that he had just gotten the opportunity to meet.

Sighing, he willed his body to move as he moved to his room to begin packing.

He kneeled down and began to gather some winter clothes when he heard a slight knocking on his door. He turned to see his grinning father, arms crossed as he leaned against the door frame.

"Jiraiya told me all about it." He interjected before his son could even open his mouth to begin to tell him.

"Be safe, alright? Your kaa-san would never forgive me if I let you go out there and get hurt, even though you're a shinobi."

Minato nodded, giving his dad a small smile as he tried to stuff his clothes into his bag.

His dad chuckled a little before joining him on the floor, taking out a few scrolls as he kneeled next to his son.

"Minato, I'm going to teach you a bit of an advanced jutsu, and it's going to come in handy when you need to hold a lot of things for a trip such as this, okay?"

His son nodded as he watched his dad roll open a few scrolls. The scrolls each had a row of circles, each surrounded by the same intricate symbols.

He watched as his father demonstrated a few hand signs to him, and saw that the inscription on the scrolls glowed and a hole appeared in the center of each circle.

"Now, you just put whatever you need in here, and when you need to take it out, just do the same thing and the items will appear as you put your hand on each circle."

Quickly, Minato organized the clothing that he was about to bring and he rolled out the other scroll and quickly activated it as well.

His father nodded in approval as he saw how quickly his son had caught on to this difficult technique.

"Why are you opening another scroll, Minato? This one has enough to hold all of your clothes and necessities."

His son turned and grinned at him, not halting his packing as he spoke to his father.

"What if I lose one of the scrolls, or something happens to render it useless? Then I'd have a backup scroll with basically the same thing so then it'd be okay!"

His father smiled at him warmly, and walked out as he let his son continue packing.

"I'm making dinner tonight!" He called out from the staircase, "You're gonna have to eat a lot of your old man's cooking before I let you out of this house!"

A good half an hour later, Minato crept down the stairs to see his dad over the stove, stirring a big pot of what seemed to be his favorite food—curry.

"Smells good, tou-san!"

He leaped down the rest of the staircase and proceeded to set the dinner table, and scooped up a good amount of rice into each of their plates, while his father ladled on the curry.

Sitting down to enjoy "the last supper" with his dad—until he came back, anyway—Minato called out a joyful, "Itadakimasu!" and dug in, his dad following along, but with less vigor.

As their pace slowed down, the older Namikaze eyed his son with slight amusement as he began to talk.

"Minato, I met some very nice people today. They're from the former Uzu village."

Minato looked up, looking at his dad with his mouth full of curry as he nodded, as if prompting his father to proceed to the rest of the story.

"They have a daughter that just graduated from the Academy at the same time you did. Kushina Uzumaki."

Seeing his son's eyes widen, the older man chuckled lightly and proceeded.

"You know, Minato, it's rude to leave without saying good bye to people that are important. Finish up your dinner, I'll do the dishes."

Without another word, his father gave him a small wink and walked away, grabbing a book and heading off to his den.

The son blinked, looking down at his food as he contemplated what his Father had just told him. Slowly thinking about what to do, he finished up his meal and went upstairs to finish packing.

After a good ten minutes of checking and rechecking the scrolls to make sure he had everything he needed, he placed the two scrolls into his backpack and made sure that all his weapons were in the weapons holster.

After deciding that he was in need of some relaxation, he went to the shower, sighing as the warm water hit him, closed his eyes, and began to think.

"…_it's rude to leave without saying goodbye to people that are important…"_

"_Dad, what is that supposed to mean?"_

Suddenly, it all clicked.

He finished his shower, threw on some casual clothes, flung his hair as if to attempt to airdry it, and headed out the door, calling out over his shoulder.

"TOU-SAN! I'M GOING OUT FOR A WALK!"

Rushing through the door, he lept, going to the closest house to his—Shikaku's.

Saying goodbye was not an easy task, Minato decided, as he stared at Inoichi and Chouza's dumbstruck face after telling them. They were over at Shikaku's, and were therefore the first to hear about his departure.

"You're…leaving us? Just like that?" Inoichi uttered out, his voice betraying him as a hint of sadness was evident in his words.

"Yeah… I don't know for how long, or where, but I'll be back sooner than you know it! Just don't forget about me, alright?" Minato smiled at his former classmates, giving them a thumbs up.

"That'd be impossible, we all grew up together, you know?" Chouza said, patting the blonde on the back as he smiled sadly.

"Well, it'll be a see-you-later then, Namikaze. See you when you come back, whenever you come back." Shikaku finally said, after a long period of silence. With a note of finality in his voice, he strode up to Minato and extended his hand out for a handshake.

Minato eyed the hand, smiled, and then proceeded to shake it.

"Definitely. I'll miss you guys, get strong!"

After all the dumbfound faces and pats on the back were over, Minato headed out to all of his close friends' houses—the Uchiha Manor, the Hyuuga Manor, and lastly…the home of Kushina Uzumaki.

* * *

"Oh… I see."

The three words Kushina Uzumaki uttered when she heard the news—the dreadful news that her first friend from Konoha was leaving.

"Well, you BETTER stay safe. I expect letters! Don't you dare get hurt out there, or else I'll kill you before the enemy does!" Kushina shouted, threatening him with her fist as he gave a small smile.

"Of course I will! I'll be back before you know it, so don't go off and forget me, alright?"

He didn't notice much until he saw a flash of red and suddenly he was tackled into a tight hug.

He returned the hug as Kushina responded.

"You _idiot_. How could I forget you? I should be scared of _you_ forgetting _me_!"

He heard the crack in her voice, and the sniffles that came afterward, and immediately felt a bit of an ache in his heart.

"That's not possible. Let's make a promise, and not forget each other, alright? When I come back, everything will just be the same as it is right now."

He felt her head nod, and they slowly released each other from each other's arms. He knew it must've been awkward for her, especially since she hates to cry or look weak in front of others.

"Well, I'll see you later, then!"

He gave her a brilliant smile and turned, leaping from rooftop to rooftop back to his house.

She looked at his back, a small smile on her face as she wiped the last of her tears from her eyes, knowing that he'll be back, knowing that he wouldn't break his promise.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, Minato stepped forward. One step, two steps, three steps. To his front, his two team mates and his teacher. To his back, warm smiles from all his friends (well, maybe not Fugaku or Hiashi), and his father.

Giving them a confident, reassuring smile, he strode toward the village gates, and joined his team mates as they waved farewell to all of their _own_ friends and family.

"WAIT!" shouted a young redhead, as she raced after the boy clutching something in her hand.

"I want you to have this!" She exclaimed, cheerfully smiling as she handed him a bracelet. It was a leather bracelet, braided in with some string, with string hanging out to adjust the size.

"You might have never noticed me wearing it, but it's my lucky charm! Keep the promise we made, or else I'll drag you back and make you regret it!"

He nodded, smiling as she took his hand and slipped on the bracelet, tightening it to suit his wrist.

"I'll stick to our promise, Kushina-san." He gave her a small smile and a wave, as she nodded and stepped back, as if letting him go.

He turned and along with his team mates, began to set off on his expedition, leaving behind his family and friends.

"_That stupid blonde, he still can't talk to me without adding the stupid –san after my name."_

Her sensei came and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, before gently saying,"Come on, Kushina, we have to go, you still have to train if you want to get stronger.

She nodded, and turned, along with her own sensei and sped to the Training Grounds with her team mates.

"He'll be back in a few weeks or so, right sensei?"

Her sensei gave her a hard look, before a small smile and saying, "I don't know, Kushina. You'll just have to wait and see."

Little did she know, she would be waiting for another year and a half.

* * *

Hey all! Sorry for the shortness of this chapter! Originally, this chapter was supposed to be 4 pages longer, but then it wouldn't have flowed very well with what I was about to write, so I'll finish adding the other 3 or so pages to the other chapter, and then update it ASAP. School starts tomorrow for me, yippee! I'm excited! But that means that I'm going to take longer to update, but just so you know…

_REVIEWS ENCOURAGE ME TO UPDATE!_

Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I swear the next one will make up for it!

-KishikoChan


	6. Mission

**Chapter VI- Mission

* * *

**

_**A year and a half later.**_

"…and that's basically it. This is a C-rank mission, probably more important and dangerous than all the C- and D-rank missions you guys have been doing lately. I don't think Uchiha-san over there would like to catch that cat again…"

The mentioned boy growled under his breath as he rubbed the scratches on his cheek. Hizashi and Kushina tried to hold back their snickers as they saw his reaction, and went back into attention when they received a stern look from their sensei, who was trying to stifle his own chuckles.

"This is just a message delivery mission, so you should be done pretty quickly, within a week, for sure. Just be careful as soon as you step into foreign lands."

The team nodded, and filed out the Hokage's office.

"Alright guys, meet at the gates tomorrow morning, 8am. We just need to get there and go back, we shouldn't make it longer than we have to."

"Is it because you have to come back to see your _girlfriend_, Hatake-sensei?" teased the little Hyuuga, whose comment caused his silver-haired sensei to flush beet-red, and turn around indignantly, muttering something like, "I don't get paid enough for this."

Kushina laughed along with Hizashi, while Fugaku had an amused look on his face when he saw the older man's reaction.

"Eh…no respect…brats." Mumbled Sakumo as he poofed away giving them a small wave.

* * *

Morning came, and at the front gates of Konoha, there were a group of ninjas ready to depart for the Waterfall village, a good day-and-a-half away.

"Everyone here? Alright, let's go!"

The silver haired ninja poofed away, leaving his team there blinking at what once was their sensei. From a tree above, he called back down to them.

"What are you guys doing? We don't have all day!"

The genin looked at each other and shrugged, leaping up onto the tree branch and racing after their sensei, while Hizashi gave out a singsong, "."

Branch after branch, they lept, heading toward an unknown village and unsure of what they were going to find.

It is only supposed to be a simple message delivery mission, right?

After a full day of silence and moving, their sensei finally spoke up.

"I think that was enough traveling for today, we made good time. We're practically at its borders now, let's set up camp."

The four got to work, collecting some firewood and pulling out their sleeping bags and blankets.

"Fugaku, you take the first shift, Kushina, you take the second, I'll take the third and Hizashi can take the last shift."

"Hai!"

The sky grew dark and as the student and two hyper active genins decided to head to rest before their shift, Kushina laid on her sleeping bag, staring up at the starry sky.

"_Minato, what are you doing, you wimp? Jeez, you're probably my best friend and you just left me without much preparation."_

Indignantly, she stared up, before she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Two hours later, she was gently shaken away by Fugaku, who gave a 'hn' and nodded, with her returning the notion.

She sat, tending to the fire place and scanning around occasionally before hearing shuffling around the camp.

She narrowed her eyes, drawing a kunai as she crouched, and slowly went around shaking her team mates awake. Her sensei had sensed the unknown chakra presences and had awoken as soon as the shuffling was heard.

"Show yourselves!" called out the teacher, staring off into the dark forest into nothing.

When there was no response, he nodded toward Hizashi, who had advanced quite a bit since a few years ago.

"Byakugan!"

Veins appeared around his eyes, before he pointed out to their right, and said, "I can see you, there's no reason to hide."

The team turned in that direction, to see a sneering man walk out of the forest, followed by a few of his cronies, weapons still in their sheath, and giving a smirk to the Konoha shinobi.

Dressed in a long black robe with a katana to his side and the waterfall village forehead protector strapped on firmly to hold his long black hair back, the man looked like he was someone of importance, but not exactly in the good way.

"…Hyuuga, eh? Impressive."

Kushina can't have been the only one to feel it, but there was a seriously dark aura leaking from this man. One that gives off the impression of fear, pain, and _death_.

Sakumo was the first to speak in the awkward silence.

"We are here in terms of peace, to deliver a message to your leader."

The man scoffed, crossing his arms and scowling at the silver haired man.

"Our leader…is an imbecile. But since this is a _diplomatic_ mission for you after all, we will take your message to our leader."

The attitude with which this man said this sentence infuriated Kushina to no end, causing her to exert all her energy to prevent herself from exploding on him.

Sakumo walked over to him cautiously and handed him the scroll, which he took with a sick smile on his face.

"I should've known Konoha idiots would be this stupid, to give it to someone they don't even know."

He cackled, opening up the scroll, not noticing the smirk on the silver-haired sensei's face before a large "poof" sounded, and the man was bound to the nearest tree in a web of chakra strings.

"Don't even bother to break free, it won't work. Kunai, katana, any weapon you could possibly have won't be able to break this web." Sakumo smiled devilishly, drawing his chakra blade out threateningly.

"GET THEM!" shouted the man, causing all of his followers to draw their own weapons and charge quickly at the four Konoha shinobi.

"_They're good!"_ thought Hizashi, as he quickly went into Jyuuken stance and exchanged a few blows with one of the enemy ninja before giving a swift blow to the chest, causing him to go stiff and fall down. Right when he was catching his breath, another one came, slashing down at the young Hyuuga, who dodged it just in time.

A few paces away, a certain young Uchiha was taking on two of the enemy ninja at once, faring well. Dodging a punch, he flipped behind one of them and kicked him into his own teammate's katana.

The wielder of said katana withdrew it from his comrade without even the slightest flinch, and proceeded to come after Fugaku with amazing agility. If it had not been for the Sharingan, which helped to predict the attacks of his opponent, Fugaku would've been seriously injure.

Sakumo Hatake was the only one that seemed to not have a lot of trouble disarming his opponents, though the whole time he was worried about his students.

"_These guys are easily Chuunin or Jounin level, and even though these kids are talented, they won't be able to keep up for them for long…"_

Quickly, he sliced off another one's head long enough to turn and see red hair flying.

Kushina had just kicked away her opponent's katana, causing the two to engage in a complete hand-to-hand combat. Exchanging quick blows, she was starting become overwhelmed with the speed at which the man was attacking her with.

Flipping backward, she noticed an enemy ninja about to attack Hizashi, right on his blind spot.

She dodged the kick her opponent had come after her with and went down to block the blow of the other opponent with the hilt of her kunai. He just smirked at her as her kunai broke, causing her to look wide eyed as he brought his katana back to deliver a slash across her stomach. Fugaku had pushed him away at the last minute, but it was still enough to leave a noticeably deep cut.

She grimaced when she saw the blood, but feeling as if she couldn't give up now, her hand blindly went into her weapons holster. She drew out a soldier pill, popping it in her mouth, feeling the new energy rush through her.

"Uzumaki, be careful, eating a soldier pill and rushing out into battle with a cut like that…could make things worse than they are." Fugaku warned, nodding before he jumped away and continued to fight.

Hizashi's eye widened as he saw the cut she sustained from protecting him, eyes hardening as he furrowed his eyebrows, and angrily finished off three other enemies with his gentle fist.

Slowly, the enemy numbers started dying down, though it seemed like forever before each team member finally only had _one_ opponent to deal with.

Sakumo quickly dispatched of his, running them through his chakra blade, and turned to his students, all of which were suffering, either from fatigue or lack of chakra.

Quickly, he went to help out Fugaku, whose chakra levels were almost gone due to the overuse of his Sharingan. One quick slice and the enemy was down, scorched by Fugaku's produced fireball.

By the time that duo turned around, Hizashi had just fallen on the ground, enemy poised to stab him. He rolled out of the way as his sensei disarmed the man, allowing Hizashi the honor to throw a powerful jyuuken right to the man's heart.

A scream was heard through the forest.

"_Kushina!" _

The thought rung across all of the three males' heads, as concern for their team mate turned into a frantic search for her. She was further off in the forest, facing the menace that was supposed to be trapped at the tree.

Her left arm was twisted back as he held her against him, kunai to her throat.

"What do you want from me?" she angrily said, trying not to move.

"Why would you think that I would want something from a weakling like you?"

Kushina growled at the insult, and continued with her reasoning.

"If you didn't, you would've killed me by now."

"Then, I don't see a point in leaving you alive any longer. There's an audience watching." He sneered as he pointed down to her team mates, who were watching in horror, with the kunai.

"Bad mistake." She growled, grabbing the outstretched arm with her right hand and flipping the man over as she began to glow of a reddish orange hue.

"_W-what is this? I feel so powerful…is __**this**__ what they stuck in me?"_

"_**I have a name, you know. And I can't have my host die. If you die, I'm stuck with you."**_

"_Thank you Kyuubi..san?, I owe you one!"_

"_**Yeah, yeah. You're lucky you're a girl, and that your predecessor was for the most part respectful of me. If you were a boy…I'd try to rip you apart."**_

Grimacing at that note, Kushina's wounds started closing up as her eyes turned to slits. She charged at the man, kunai at hand as she slashed, not caring to look at where she was slashing or what was the result, as long as he was **dead** by the time she was done with him.

Eyes widening with surprise, he only pulled out his katana and tried to block her, although his attempts were futile due to the strength behind her attacks.

"**Never**…hurt my teammates…" she growled, as she grabbed the hilt of his katana and flung it to the ground, leaving it lodged there for the man to see his only weapon, rendered useless. She took this moment of weakness to launch a barrage of kunai at him, proceeding with strong punches.

A firm hand grasped her shoulder, as she turned to see her sensei watching her with concern.

"That's enough Kushina, he's dead."

She had barely created as much damage as she wanted to. He had not been completely mutilated, but he was certainly dead.

She nodded, closing her eyes as the hue disappeared and her pupils returned back to normal.

"W-what was that?" uttered out Hizashi, as he stared at her, Byakugan still open as he saw her strange chakra swirling back down.

She felt herself smile, and began to speak.

"I guess it was about time I told you…" her eyes drooped as she dropped to her knees, legs giving out as she had exerted herself way too much.

"…Kyuubi…" was the last word from her mouth before she had passed out from exhaustion.

Sakumo sighed, turning to his two students that were still awake.

"We need to go, now. Kushina needs some medical attention."

As Hizashi was opening his mouth, he interjected.

"She'll explain when we get back, alright?"

Hizashi nodded, and Fugaku, who had been thinking the whole time, nodded as well.

"Sensei! Her wound is opening up again! I think the blade that man used was enhanced with some strange poison or chakra, because I can see _Kushina's_ chakra coming from it!"

The sensei's eyebrows furrowed some more as his frown deepened, quickly picking up the young girl.

"We're heading back to Konoha, **now**."

Nodding, the three males leapt up to a tree branch and began moving back to Konoha at breakneck speeds.

* * *

"Toshio, Minato, Shibi, it's time, let's go!"

A blonde boy who had just come of the shower, drying off his hair, responded.

"Time to go where, Jiraiya-sensei?

"Back."

"…to Konoha..?"

The blonde had sounded unsure at first, but then an image flashed into his mind, and his excitement suddenly grew.

"Yep."

"Why now, of all times?"

The white-haired sage cocked an eyebrow as he looked at his blonde prodigee.

"You sound like you don't want to go back. The chuunin exams are coming up, my boy, and we need you guys to go back there and kick some ass."

With great fervor, the blonde nodded, proceeding to wake up his two sleeping team mates, and start packing, as his free hand went right toward the worn out bracelet on his left wrist, and his mind drifted to the thought of a certain red-head.

* * *

"Kushina!...Kushina!"

Her eyes opened slightly, trying to figure out what exactly happened to her after she passed out.

"…where am I?" she asked groggily, as she faced white walls and a frantic Hizashi Hyuuga.

"YOU'RE AWAKE!" he exclaimed, leaning over to give her a big hug.

"Ow…ow… Hizashi, you're hurting me." She grumbled, attempting to push the long-haired boy away from her.

"Gomen, Kushina! It's all my fault you're here! It's because you were trying to keep the guy away from my…" he gulped before he continued on, "blindspot."

"Yeah, he's been beating himself up over it, so just tell him that you'll be okay so we can leave already."

She turned to see the source of the voice, only to meet the onyx eyes of her other team mate, Fugaku Uchiha.

"It's great seeing you too, Fugaku." She said sarcastically, before turning her head to look at the clock, which read 11pm.

"Go home, guys! It's late! I need my beauty sleep!"

Fugaku scoffed, and mumbled, "Got that right."

Kushina turned threateningly at her team mate, fist clenched as he shrugged apathetically, opened the window and jumped out, Hizashi following.

"Bye! See you tomorrow!"

She nodded as leaned back into her bed, looking out the window to see the moon shining brightly overhead.

She heard a shuffle, and turned, eyes widening before a hand was put over her mouth, stifling her screams. She tried to push him away, but a sudden streak of pain was felt in her stomach area.

"_Shit. I forgot." _She struggled against the man, but to no avail.

"Shut her up already."

"Will do, boss."

The unknown intruder prodded the pressure point on her neck, and her body slumped down as she was knocked out.

* * *

Hey guys! The first week of school is finally OVER for me, and I promised you guys that this chapter would be coming out soon. There are two things I would like to apologize for.

First of all, I'm sorry if this chapter seemed really rushed or squished together, but I'm really trying to get to the good part, which is when…MINATO comes back! Therefore, I sort of needed to condense things because I didn't want to spend another 5 chapters talking about Kushina's missions with her team mates and leaving Minato completely out of the story for that long.

Second of all, I'm sorry if the fight scene was a little confusing, but I'm not exactly experienced in writing them, so hopefully the future fight scenes will be a bit better.

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I had some fun writing it! The next chapter will be even more exciting…ooh the anticipation.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! And I'll update faster!

SEE YOU SOON!

-KishikoChan


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